Alright, I’ve been delaying this due to work and my personal cosplay commitments. But its up now!
To give all of you a bit of a pre-text. Maid Cafe is a unique merchandise of the Otaku culture and has now become a unique trait of Japan and Akihabara. It is synonymous with Anima/Manga/Cosplay (in fact, its a direct spin from fans who wanted to live in the fantasy world) and is representative of the feverish spending power of the Otakus.
Jumping back to the topic of this entry, my journey to a Maid Cafe!!!
Currently in Singapore, to our public knowledge, there are around 3 Maid Cafes. One at CHIJMES and another at ILLUMA. Akibanana is the latest to join the troupe and in my humble opinion, the most authentic one. But I think I’ll let the picture do the convincing =)
Lovely Light and curtain displays
There’s a mini Tatami set for 2 in front of the shop.
The more proper dining tables. It has their mascot printed on it XD. Probably can’t tell from the picture but I love the pink cushion seat on the left side of the picture. It was very comfortable =)
Lovely pink displays by the side
We ordered a tea set for 4.
The tea cups are soooo cute T_T
Too cute lah…so snapped more pics =D
All the tea sets came with this cute teaspoon. can anyone educate me on why it has spikes? For lifting sugar cubes??? Anyway, lovely strawberry motif.
Oops, another pic of the lovely tea sets and menu =)
Magazines the very kawaii maid offered us to read. Oh yes, if you realise, this post won’t and can’t have any pictures of the maid :P
The next side dish/finger food we tried was the Bird Nest. Basically fried chicken bits with quail egg and mini fried fries.
Nyanko plates!!!!!
Oh! Maria ordered the Special Service too. Fuwa Fuwa Service xD!
Try guessing who the above Butler is xD??? She’s a very cute local Cosplayer and have done numerous moe characters including a Cosplay PV from a recent mecha anime xD. At the cafe she’s called Misaki !
A funny side incident to share. I was actually a little embarrassed and shy to enter the cafe and was really just looking forward to hiding in a corner unnoticed. My objective was to secretly ogle at the pretty maids * Hentai jiji alerts!* then come back and secretly blog about my secret adventure (Wad the fish??).
But the moment I stepped into the Cafe someone shouted “ KAIKA!!! ”.
EXPOSED IMMEDIATELY !!!! Undercover epic fails !
oTL*faints*
Oh, they were in the middle of their Boot Camp competition for the new Maids and Butlers so the customers like ourselves were invited to evaluate their performance. No prize for guessing which slip is mine and which is maria‘s :P
Inuran joined us too at a later time.
And there she is, scribbling her comments on the evaluation form. VERY serious business you know?
My Review:
Now for some personal reviews.
Personally, despite my deep interest in Cosplays and Japanese Anime/Manga I have never felt that inclinations towards such themed cafes. And the one at CHIJMES failed to ignite my interest 4 years ago so I stepped into Akibanana waiting to be disappointed. But I was pleasantly surprised =)
I like the place. I like its pastel coloured interior and cozy ambience. I like it’s quiet location and yeah…I just really like the whole quiet, secluded package. But of course, that’s before the crowd started coming in XD.
5 Stars for the authentic deco and set up. Could of course, be even more lavish in their deco but hey, its a new shop so I’m not gonna grind them on that. Though I do expect it to improve on it as time goes by :DD
The food menu definitely needs some buffing up. Not only was it way too costly, it didn’t make it pass my taste test either. Wasn’t bad, just not good enough. But then again, we come back to the point that you don’t go to a Maid Cafe expecting good food haha.
According to the boss of the Cafe, the maid costumes were specially designed by her and custom made from duchness satin. Expensive material! They intend to have more themed events and costumes in the future to suit the various festivals. Also, level 2 will be opening up to public soon. It features a (two actually) more secluded theme ‘Rooms’ for those who are looking for privacy. Kudos to the owner for staying true to the concept of the Maid Cafes.
And my advice to novice Maid cafe customers like me, go into the cafe expecting services. Go in knowing that you are entering a theme cafe. What failed for me was to go in after a long day’s work and failing to appreciate and allow the whole maid thingy to soak in. Because like what Maria said, you go into the Maid Cafes to enjoy the company of the maids. And that’s precisely what every customer should attune themselves to I guess. But that’s just my opinion *Shrug*.
I highly recommend anyone who’s interest to go check it out. Its near Tanjong Pagar MRT Station. The road can be a little confusing but…walking distance la :D Maybe one day I’ll post some photo map to get there =)
Check out their official website for the latest menu and maid updates ;)
